Snow Filled Day – Response to a Tweet/Comment
As I am sitting here looking at the 7 inches of snow outside, I am scanning Tweets in my Social Media Favorites List. I noticed one from Mack Collier @MackCollier.
So I clicked the link and I have to agree with Mack…this is a smart lady! Here is the response from Margie Clayman (@margeclayman).
Margie, you have got me thinking about this crazy world in this social space. You said: “There are a lot of people who are out there solely to rake in the big bucks and get famous, and it kind of makes me mad that their methodologies work. I try to do things the slow, more engaging/interactive way, which I find extremely rewarding, but it’s not the kind of work that gets you accolades in the industry.”
This quote really struck home for me and made me think a little more. It is people like you who are out there helping people build quality initiatives, and if your motives are in the right place and the initiative works…you should not be in the fore-front. You are helping people understand the social space and build communities with your guidance. If you were in the middle of the initiative, then you would be the whole campaign and it would be just that…a campaign.
Helping organizations build quality social initiatives is about teaching and guiding. It is not about doing it all for them, thus you completely speak on their behalf in the social space. Community building is about helping people connect around an organizations’ initiatives, not around out own personal agenda’s. We help organizations we believe in…and we have relationships with these groups – they are important to us. It is our ethics that drive us to make sure their interests are always put first. This is just my humble little opinion and thanks for making me think on this snowy day in South Carolina! Thanks Mack for sharing this via a Tweet…it got me thinking.
I told you Margie was a winnah! So are you! Stay warm!
Mack…thanks my friend. This is a great topic to think over! I told Margie she should write more on this topic…she is just a smart person. Have a good one! ~BR
Gosh, you fellows are going to make me blush.
I think your observations are really interesting, Bobby. I feel like I’m quite a rare bird in the Social Media space because I am not currently looking to make money directly off of anything I’m doing in Social Media. My blog is not monetized, I’m not tweeting “special discount offers.” Like you say, I’m in the background helping people figure things out. I enjoy doing it, and if people think I’m doing a good job, that’s the only metric I need.
What concerns me is that there don’t seem to be a whole lot of people who, once they attain the success they are searching for, reach down to help other people up. Rather they become kind of inaccessible, then they get dragons to guard them, and then they just kind of become big booming voices from the mountain top. I’m not really wanting to aspire to success in Social Media if that’s the end game.
So what is the end game?
Maybe that’s the most important question.
Thanks again. Honored to be mentioned here. And thanks to Mack as well. Y’all know how to make a Margie smile 🙂
Margie…Thanks for your note. I think you bring up some really interesting points. The first thing is that we as practitioners have to continue to serve our clients and serve them well. There are so many that have capitalized on the successes of technology, but at the end of the day…are they practitioners or technicians. What I mean by this…can they evolve as technology evolves or will these “thought leaders” dry up as the technology changes.
We as practitioners thrive in a changing thought economy. We know what it means to communicate and serve our clients whether we are using an iPhone or a hand written note. Our fundamentals are sound, yet we continue to stay educated with emerging trends so we can best prepare for tomorrow. “Social Media” is a new media and will soon be an old media. Television was a new media at one time and has evolved from to an old media and starting to re-emrge in this communication space.
But regardless, there is no end game. The game is to do our best to think in terms of what an old photojournalist taught me years ago: “Always think in terms of three shots ahead and two shots behind.” What do I mean…in electronic news gathering, news happened fast, right in front of us. So we always had to capture or “shoot” the shots thinking of the next three shots we want to get and the last two shots we just acquired. This kept us grounded and focused in terms of the story. I believe the same is true as a communication practitioner, serving our clients. We need to always consider where we might go and where we came from. It keeps us sound in our strategic approach.
Just my humble thoughts and I thank you for taking time to chat here Margie!
~BR